Wellness Products at CES Weigh In

Dozens of vendors at the Consumer Electronics Show offered wares to keep you healthy, spanning products for fitness and improved sleep to at-home medical care. You can take a reading of some of the products we explored by clicking through the following pages.

@rich.pell "But if you think about it, doesn't that make perfect sense?"

Indeed. Some people are addicted to gadgets though as they need them to keep their motivation levels high. Those of us who are motivated intirinsically to keep fit do not need gadgets (or do not need a constant supply of new models). The industry is feeding and sustaining the addicts amongst us....

"I find it ironic that more technology for wellness we have the less fit we become as society...I just put my shoes on and run...not sure what the technology fitness gadet will change in my running...I am actually thinking that time spend buying the gadget, studing its operation and analyzing the results will actually reduce time spend running ;-)...Kris"

It's addictive for some people though. A gadget can give them an initial motivation but that does not last, which means they need new gadgets to give them the next boost etc. etc.

Gadgets are indeed designed for people who find it hard to exercise intrinsically. They need that boost and the business model ensures repeat custom ;-)

Perhaps...but to do interval training you must be fitness minded already and you are probably already fit...personally I can pretty accurately assess my heart rate based on my breathing...in blind tests I am within 10% which I think it is good enough

I'm particularly intrigued by the Move clothing, which could prove very popular with golfers, other sports enthusiasts, dancers and for various types of exercise.

It is also great to see that not every product is a wristwatch or wrist band. That form factor is so unimaginative, and many of us who gave up wearing a watch years ago have little desire to start wearing something on our wrist again, except perhaps during a specialized activity like during exercise.

Having said that, I do think the June sun exposure tracker could prove very popular here in Arizona!

"not sure what the technology fitness gadet will change in my running"

For many people, these gadgets provide motivation. A popular pedometer brand that syncs to a mobile app, for example, sets a default goal of 10,000 steps per day. It periodically reminds the user that he/she has only X steps left to achieve the daily goal, and congratulates the user when that goal is met.

As for running, or any other cardio workout, if you're trying to do heart rate interval training, a heart rate monitor is rather essential, since it is too difficult to estimate one's heart rate with much accuracy beyond low, medium or high.

The proper boundary between wellness devices and medical devices is an interesting gray area and I'll admit that I don't know where the FDA draws the line.

Certainly if dangerous voltages or invasive processes are involved, regulations are essential. I would think that a more difficult area is that in which a device provides information (blood pressure, pulse rate, oxygen percentage, temperature) that might cause a person to take medical action. In that case harm might be done based upon incorrect information.

My sense is that sugar testing for diabetes and insulin pumps are regulated but oral thermometers or treadmill pulse monitors might not be. My understanding is that because of the potential for incorrect sugar level readings, operator error, or electronics failure that approvals of closed loop insulin pumps (read sugar and inject insulin) are running very slowly.

With my heavy step, the (Yamax Digi-Walker) SW-200 pedometer (about $20) is a great fit. I've been using them for years. I used to wear it on my belt, but the clips break after about 10 months. When I got tired of buying new pedometers, I got the clips replaced. The company that advertised clip replacements did fine for a while and then went out of business keeping my check and my 2 pedometers. Now I strap a clipless pedometer to the top of my wallet in my pocket. It has worked for a few years there quite nicely.